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Pogacar crushes his competition again on Stage 6 of the Tour of Catalonia

Pogacar picked his way through police motorbike riders blocking the road by fan congestion on the final climb as Landa and Bernal secured podium spots behind

Pogacar crushes his competition again on Stage 6 of the Tour of Catalonia

On the penultimate day of the Catalan stage race, the 154-kilometre queen stage awaited. Between Berga and Queralt, the riders braved five categorised climbs. The sixth stage of the Volta Catalunya always looked like being a GC battle and it did not fail to deliver on this promise with the overall race classification being well defined by the end of the day and the final climb up to Queralt. For many teams it ended up being a day of survival and finishing safely without expending too much ahead of tomorrow’s final stage.

Almost immediately after the start, two riders formed the early breakaway. The peloton, paced by Team Visma | Lease a Bike, never gave the duo much space.

The most feared climb of the day was Coll de Pradell, a hors catégorie climb. Towards the summit, riders were being droped includig Sepp Kuss. Moments later, an unleashed Pogacar decided the stage on the penultimate climb an attacked.

Initially, Landa was the only one capable of following the Slovenian, who accelerated again on the steepest part of the climb, going clear and starting the descent 20 seconds down on the sole leader. 

Joined by Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) just before the last ascent, Mikel worked well together with the Colombian, keeping a hefty advantage over the chasers behind.

Entering the final kilometre of yet another dominant solo victory in the mountains at the prestigious Catalan stage race – his third of a staggeringly dominant week, a minute ahead of closest rivals Mikel Landa and a resurgent Egan Bernal, Pogacar’s progress was hampered by two police support riders stuck on the densely packed climb at a speed to slow for arguably the world’s best professional cyclist.

In scenes remarkably similar Pogacar attacking Jonas Vingegaard on the Col de Joux Plane at last year’s Tour de France, the Slovenian was dramatically slowed down by the two motorbikes as he rounded a bend with 650 metres to go.

Visibly frustrated, Pogacar waved and gestured at the police officers to move, before finally picking his way through a narrow gap between them and ans, slapping one of the bikes repeatedly before finally accelerating out of the saddle as the road cleared.

Behind Landa and Bernal finished nearly a minute down on the Slovenian.

HIGHLIGHTS: 2024 Tour of Catalonia Stage 6

2024 Tour of Catalonia Stage 6 Top 10

1 Tadej Pogacar UAE Team Emirates 4:11:53
2 Egan Bernal Gómez INEOS Grenadiers 0:57
3 Mikel Landa Meana Soudal Quick-Step 0:57
4 Enric Mas Nicolau Movistar Team 2:14
5 Chris Harper Team Jayco AlUla 2:16
6 Antonio Tiberi Bahrain - Victorious 2:16
7 João Almeida UAE Team Emirates 2:18
8 Lenny Martinez Groupama - FDJ 2:18
9 Lorenzo Fortunato Astana Qazaqstan Team 2:34
10 Aleksandr Vlasov BORA - hansgrohe 2:38

2024 Tour of Catalonia GC after Stage 6

1  POGACAR Tadej UAE Team Emirates 25:06:16
2  LANDA Mikel Soudal Quick-Step 3:31
3  BERNAL Egan INEOS Grenadiers 4:53
4  VLASOV Aleksandr BORA - hansgrohe 5:46
5  MAS Enric Movistar Team 5:51
6  HARPER Chris Team Jayco AlUla ,,
7  MARTINEZ Lenny Groupama - FDJ 5:52
8  TIBERI Antonio Bahrain - Victorious 6:23
9  ALMEIDA João UAE Team Emirates ,,
10  FORTUNATO Lorenzo Astana Qazaqstan Team 7:17